I thought your lordship had killed the late lord,
either by accident or maliciously."
"You must be dreaming, Pike!"
"No; but I was no better than dreaming then. I had been living amidst
lawless scenes, over the seas and on the seas, where a life's not of much
account, and the fancy was easy enough. I happened to overhear a quarrel
between you and the earl just before his death; I saw you going towards
the spot at the time the accident happened, as you may remember--"
"I did not go so far," interrupted Hartledon, wondering still whether
this might not be the wanderings of a dying man. "I turned back into the
trees at once, and walked slowly home. Many a time have I wished I had
gone on!"
"Yes, yes; I was on the wrong scent. And there was that blow on his
temple to keep up the error, which I know now must have been done against
the estrade. I did suspect at the time, and your lordship will perhaps
not forgive me for it. I let drop a word that I suspected something
before that man Gorton, and he asked me what I meant; and I explained
it away, and said I was chaffing him. And I have been all this time, up
to a few weeks ago, learning the true particulars of how his lordship
died."
Lord Hartledon decided that the man's mind was undoubtedly wandering.
But Pike was not wandering. And he told the story of the boy Ripper
having been locked up in the mill.
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